🚀 go-pugleaf

ihuin!tfilm asks:

>  1.  Are small computer 13 pin I/O ports all standard?

No way.  Sorry.

>  2.  If so, what is the standard?

N/A

  3.  If not, what is Atari's standard?

(Assuming we are talking about 8bit Ataris, now) Loosely speaking, the
port is a serial TTL port which runs at 19.2 KBaud.  It sends data in
frames with an address indicating which I/O device, and with checksums,
etc.

It would be lots easier to use the Joystick ports on your Atari.  These
are 4-bit parallel I/O ports which use a standard peripheral interface
adaptor chip (sorry, I don't remember the number).  The normal mode of
operation is to use them for input only for the joysticks, but it is
relatively easy to toggle a bit in the PIA and pump bits out.

Try such books as De Re Atari for details on all this.

There is an article in Analog magazine within the past couple of years
about constructing just such a thing as you propose using Shack parts.
You might want to look it up.  I'm going to try it one of these days.

Burns

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